Peace and Insanity
by I.J.Girl
Summary: 'The man placed the axe firmly in his hands, eyes dark, 'There's a fine line between insanity and peace, boy. Every true warrior must find it if he's to hope to survive. Find it, or the fears will make the choice for yeh.' Snotlout messes up royally again and has to spend the summer paying for it. Strangely, he finds an ally that's more helpful than anyone would have thought.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! First How To Train Your Dragon fic of mine! *throws little party* XD Anyway, just to clarify, this is set before the second movie, and follows the events of Riders/Defenders of Berk. You'll probably really need to watch the show to understand the fanfic. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

"Whoo-hoo-ho-hooo!"

The cry echoed through the valley as three bursts of color ripped through the air, sending trees swooping from the effect, sending creatures scrambling for more secure footholds on their perches, screeching and chirping in alarm.

"Snotlout, for the love of-"

"For the love of myself, I'll take the lead on this mission, Hiccup."

Hiccup sighed, his hand finding its way to his forehead as his arrogant cousin smirked widely at him, blue eyes teasing and demeaning. Ever since they were toddlers, Snotlout had always found ways to make his life miserable.

"Snotlout, this is a surveillance mission! We're supposed to be quietly find out if there are any of Alvin's Outcasts left that aren't working with Dagur, not alerting every living thing around that we're tearing through the area!"

Snotlout snorted as Astrid flanked Hiccup and Toothless, leveling Snotlout with a glare that a smarter person might have known to fear, "Yeah, well, I'm not the one who brought my _oh so discreet _Night Fury on a surveillance mission. Everybody knows there's only one Night Fury left, and that he's _yours_."

Despite the sudden tightening in his chest at the thought of Toothless being the last Night Fury, Hiccup showed no visible reaction except to roll his eyes. A part of him, though, felt a tug of anger; how was it that Snotlout always knew just what to say to get under his skin?

_Ha, ha, Hiccup. Look at the mess you made! I guess you're not so useless after all. You give your old man so much trouble he doesn't even look twice at us!_

_You're so _useless_, Hiccup. Why don't you just give up already?_

_Oh, what? Are you crying now? Do you miss your mommy, Hiccup? Hey! Guess what I just realized! You're not just Useless, you're Motherless too. Aww..._

Even though Snotlout had long since quit calling him Useless, the words still stung after years had gone by. A part of him was relieved that half the time Snotlout only seemed to make fun of him for the sake of appearances, the spite that used to lace his tone sounding more and more faked as the years crept on. He wasn't sure if it was in fact that his cousin was forgetting whatever horrible thing he had apparently done to earn Snotlout's hate, or if it was his own sometimes naive hope in others that was clouding his judgment.

Toothless crooned, turning his head slightly, Hiccup's emotions had become more and more obvious to him with the passing years; the dragon could intuit his boy's emotional state from the muscles in Hiccup's legs and the smell he carried, whether tense or relaxed, playful or angry. His boy was upset for some reason right now, and if dragons could bet, he'd bet it had something to do with Snotlout. Hiccup absentmindedly shifted his hand from his saddle's handles to Toothless's scales, giving his friend a reassuring rub.

"Shut up, Snotlout. I'm not letting you take the lead on this mission, even if you tried," Astrid snapped, and Snotlout pouted, but backed down.

"Pfft, fine. Whatever."

Hiccup glanced to his side, where Astrid flew, her blue eyes angry and snapping, her heavy braid occasionally being lifted from her back by the wind as they flew. She turned and met his gaze, a tiny softening occurring around her eyes even though her expression seemed to remain the same. He knew all too well that that softness was not easily earned, and smiled at her in gratitude.

"Thank you, Astrid."

Her expression softened a bit more, before giving him a nod, a slight smile playing on her lips. For the next hour or so, they flew quietly, eyes focused on the terrain below; it quickly became a mind numbing job. Snotlout on his right sighed in boredom and slumped forward in his new saddle, eyes watching the boring ground as Astrid tirelessly scanned the walls of the canyon, eyes as focused as a hawk's. Finding himself with half his mind unoccupied, Hiccup let his thoughts wander.

The last year had turned out surprisingly well. Despite the occasional skirmish in the village or an Outcast/Berserker boat straying too far into Berk's waters, it had been peaceful. With more and more Vikings taking in the dragons that the teens trained, they were more occupied with trying to befriend and house train their beloved house pets slash steeds.

Alvin and Mildew had begrudgingly become part of Berk, though certainly not part of the village. Stoic, out of respect for who Alvin had been, had allowed him one more chance to prove himself, and now Alvin and Mildew occupied a little wooden shack out in the woods; Mildew's old home had been given to a young couple who had quickly turned it into a bright, cheery and surprisingly clean place, and were expecting a new baby any day soon, so no one was about to shoo them out to give the place back to the traitorous old man.

Not that he wanted it back. Mildew and Fungus were more than happy to leave the place to it's new owners once they saw how nice it was; true to their names, they didn't like to live anywhere that clean. Alvin in the meantime devoted much his time to trying to garner the people's trust while rebuilding the shack into a proper Viking longhouse. Hiccup and Astrid had taken a day to go and help him, surprised by his amicable temperament as he taught Hiccup how to hew wood into planks thin enough but insulating enough to make walls, even playfully suggesting the seventeen year old use the opportunity to show off for his girl and take his shirt off while he was at it. All those days at the forge lugging heavy metal around couldn't have amounted to nothing, eh? Needless to say, Hiccup didn't pay any attention to that, but it was interesting to have the older man teach him. His father hadn't had nor the time nor the confidence to teach him manual skills like this, always a little afraid his son might find some _fascinating _new way to do something and end up hurting himself or someone else, so it was interesting to have someone who wasn't Gobber patiently teaching him something new.

Most people steered far and clear of Alvin, mistrusting and angry because of all he had done, but for various reasons Hiccup felt he could change. A big one of those reasons was that Astrid begrudgingly trusted that Alvin wasn't going to harm them anymore, though she could hardly fathom why. After the incident with Heather, Hiccup had found that Astrid tended to be as good a character judge as Toothless, if not better sometimes. Occasionally, her Viking upbringing might cloud her judgment, but after various little misadventures he found it quite judicious to take her feelings on a person very seriously before leaping in headfirst into anything dangerous or too compromising.

"There, I see something!" Snotlout's over joyous shout snapped across Hiccup's ears and blew his thoughts to the wind, turning them into irretrievable memories before he had the chance to blink. Snapping up in his seat, Snotlout was already hot in pursuit of whatever thing he had seen, before Hiccup had the chance to spot it.

"Snotlout!" Astrid yelled, as Hiccup groaned, leaning to the side, Toothless immediately responding to the cue and turning sharply to follow his rider's stubborn cousin, Stormfly not far behind.

Snotlout quickly landed on a clearing, Hookfang setting the perimeter on fire, earning a couple of startled screams from an Outcast and his buddy as they threw themselves to the ground.

"You lied!" one of them cried to someone behind Snotlout as Hiccup and Astrid quickly landed next to him on their respective dragons. Fear sprung in the dirty, hungry looking man's eyes as he cowered, Hiccup and Astrid frowning in confusion at his words.

"You lied! You said they wouldn't attack us anymore! You lead us into a trap!"

"What in the name of Odin's undies is going on?!" all three teens jerked around to face Gobber and a very angry looking Alvin on the other border of the woods. Snotlout glared at everyone unapologetically, as Hiccup sighed in frustration and gave his mentor the short version of the events.

"Surveillance mission. Snotlout," he gestured dryly towards his cousin, though his unamused look slowly turn to concern as a silently furious Alvin stalked past him and straight to Hookfang. The Monstrous Nightmare hissed at him, but once he realized it was his rider the little beast-man was after, he ignored him. Snotlout at least had the dignity to look a little chagrined as the man stalked up to him, but it was immediately lost as Alvin yanked him off his saddle without a word and slammed his face into the dirt, grinding it in

"You sorry excuse for a rotten bilge rat!" he snarled as Snotlout howled in shock and pain. Hiccup, Astrid and Gobber were all too shocked to react for the first few moments until it became evident that Snotlout was not exaggerating with his shouting. Alvin pulled the boy off the ground, leaving behind a tooth and a fair amount of blood, before gesturing to the little house disguised in the forest, the edges of which were starting to catch fire as a woman and three little children rushed out, met by the two Outcasts and swept up into protecting arms before vanishing into the forest.

"You could have seriously injured, or even _killed _them!" Alvin yelled, throwing Snotlout back on the ground. The stocky youth's head made hard contact again, making stars burst across his vision, but managed to hold onto his consciousness.

"You, an' tha' stupid dragon of yours!" the man's burly hand reached down to grab Snotlout again, who simply curled up to await the blow, but Hiccup had had enough. Idiot or no, his cousin couldn't take another blow against the ground like that, not if he wanted to be walking this week.

"Enough!" He sprung off of Toothless and between Snotlout and Alvin, surprised when the man checked himself just short of almost hitting the boy that had seemed to magically appear in front of him. Alvin took a step back, the fury on his face dissipating slightly as he looked upon the young heir with a begrudging respect. He growled slightly, the sound resonating deeply in his chest.

"There are few things I love in this gods-forsaken world, 'Iccup. A good sword, a good fight, a day of hard work, an' me sister. And this deranged..." Alvin cut himself off, as if about to utter a horrible curse, and resorted to something a little less strong, "_lunatic_, nearly blows her and her family up. Forgive me, son, if I get a little _emotional._"

"But he didn't blow them up!" Hiccup strangely found himself defending his cousin as the formerly tough boy lay curled up and groaning on the ground, spitting out blood as he feebly tried to stand up.

"Lemme atim," he slurred, tripping over a rock that no doubt his head had been cracked on and collapsing on the taller Hiccup from the thinner boy's left side, throwing off his cousin's balance and sending them both tumbling awkwardly on the ground. Hiccup cursed his luck and swore a sailor blue internally as he tried to shove Snotlout off and regain some dignity. It certainly didn't help matters that Gobber was trying -and failing – to disguise his laughter as coughing and Astrid was just glaring at Snotlout, probably thinking it was about time that someone gave him a proper beating.

"Ikin take him!" he cried, before passing out on top of Hiccup. Alvin stared at the two, unamused as he turned away, shaking his head.

"I'll probably never see 'em again," he glared at Snotlout and Hiccup felt a twinge of worry for his cousin, before shaking it off. To be honest, Snotlout had deserved that beating for quite some time, but...he couldn't shake the twinge of guilt that pulsated in his chest at the little bit of pleasure he took in seeing Snotlout like this. Though Snotlout had never gone anywhere near this far when he would physically 'tease' him, he wondered if the burly boy would finally understand what it was like when it was Hiccup at this end of the stick.

"He owes me," Alvin grumbled as Gobber sighed and gave Snotlout a one over, pulling the boy off of Hiccup, who gratefully climbed to his feet. Hiccup's mouth opened to ask, but the words seemed foreign and he had to force himself to care.

"I-is-..." he trailed off, too many years of resentment flickering behind his eyes. Gobber grumbled something about him being like his father before answering the unasked question.

"He'll be fine, granted that tooth he lost doesn't get infected," the blacksmith glanced between Astrid and Hiccup, asking the obvious question, and when Hiccup caught sight of Astrid's disgusted expression he knew who was carrying Snotlout home.

"Oh, great," he sighed as Toothless shrugged.

One awkward flight back home later, in which Snotlout's unconscious body nearly slipped off of Toothless' back several times, Hiccup was relieved to deliver his cousin to Gothi's place. The old woman raised an eyebrow at the knocked out teen, but didn't ask anything, so Hiccup offered no explanation. No need to go around spreading rumors when Snotlout would do it himself when he woke up. Gothi cleaned the boy's face as Hiccup watched, suddenly noting the changes his cousin had undergone over the years. Whereas before his nose had always been upturned in pride and sneering, it was softer now, the lines of anger once worn so deeply into the boy's face softened and relaxed, despite the ugly scratches all along the length of the right side of his face and the reddish-purple bruise forming over his eye. Gothi carefully removed her charge's helmet, and Snotlout shuddered, as if recognizing the loss of one of his most prized objects despite being lost to the world. Loosening the band holding back the boy's long hair, Gothi mumbled softly as she inspected the sizable bump on his head. One of her Terrible Terrors crept out from under the bed and growled at Snotlout before Gothi whacked him away. Her pet chirped and whined as it curled up next to Hiccup and Toothless, who sat just outside the door, watching with interest.

It seemed he wasn't needed here anymore. Hiccup shifted uneasily, feeling a strange, unwelcome sense of responsibility towards the boy laying on Gothi's table. He quietly told the old woman that he was leaving and she responded by waving him away.

_Go, go._

Mounting Toothless with an ease no one else seemed to carry, he flew off, squinting at the sight of Alvin shouting at his father, who simply glared at his former friend. Landing next to the discussion he dismounted.

"-be that as it may, Alvin, you have no right to beat a Berkian youth senseless. Your sister was unharmed. You had nothing to avenge."

Alvin's unruly visage darkened, "That runt still owes me, Stoic."

At seeing the shift in the way Stoic's shoulder's lay, he sighed.

"Chief, please. If you were denied to see your family because of him, would you have reacted any different."

"Yes. I would not have beat the boy into the ground," Stoic sighed, lowering his voice as he acknowledged Hiccup's presence by ushering him closer, "Alvin, if Snotlout comes out of this with only minor injuries, I'll have him repay you by working with you on your longhouse during the summer. Everyone knows you need to have that finished by winter if you want to survive. It'll be fair; I won't have you plotting for one of my youth's blood, Alvin."

Alvin's expression darkened slightly, but he nodded, "Fine. All summer, though, and he stays with me the whole time."

Stoic's glare grew with fire, "No. The boy sleeps at his own home. With his dragon, he can be there and come back in good time."

"Oh, Stoic, Stoic, have you forgotten what it is to construct a house? I need that boy from day break ta sundown," Alvin crossed his arms, not relenting.

"May I, say something?" Hiccup interjected, crossing his arms. He had been hoping that Astrid could handle the dragon academy this summer so that he could go exploring the outer territories some more, but it seemed like that wasn't happening. As much as he and Astrid hated to admit it, when Hiccup was gone and Snotlout wasn't around to give the young riders some one to listen to while he embellished the stories of their adventures to make him look like the hero, or to help ground the twins, the academy kind of went haywire and circumvented itself. Also, the idea of leaving Snotlout alone with the guy who just pummeled him into the ground, who not to mention was also a former traitor currently living with another traitor...it just sounded like a really bad idea.

When Alvin and his father turned to look at him, he spoke up, "I think you already got your due when you beat Snotlout into the ground, Alvin, and I don't really like the idea of losing a dragon rider during the summer, especially with Dagur still lurking around somewhere. We need every rider we've got, Dad."

"Son, I think we've all had it up to here with Snotlout. I think it'll do the boy some good to have some responsibility on his shoulders."

The boy was quiet, but his disapproval spoke volumes in and of itself. Alvin sighed.

"Look, boy, I won't harm yer cousin anymore, if that's what you're worried about."

Hiccup opened his mouth to protest, but it died in his throat, as flickers of worry flew around his chest and he sighed, looking away from the two adults, "Fine. I guess I could promote Gustav to Junior Dragon Trainer..."

"Really?!" Hiccup, Alvin and Stoic turned sharply to face Gustav, who's voice was in that uncomfortable valley of not-quite-a-child's-voice and not-quite-an-adult's-voice, occasionally jumping up to a high-pitched squeal if he wasn't careful. The thirteen year old was hiding behind a group of barrels, and his dragon, Fanghook, was perched on the building. Toothless gave the juvenile a friendly greeting as the two adults glared at the young boy for eavesdropping. Gustav had the decency to look ashamed.

"S-sorry, Chief. I'll just...go back behind these barrels," he chuckled nervously as he slid out of view.

Hiccup just sighed. This was certainly going to be an interesting summer.

**Interesting summer indeed. ^^ Please tell me what you think! Should I continue (Snotlout gets his fair share of humiliation from Alvin, haha) or is this not really interesting?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! Look I updated! Thanks to the two reviewers who reviewed, this chapter is up because of ou guys. A bit more Snotlout centric here,so I hope I wrote his jerk- *&amp;$&amp;$ character mean enough because I have a hard time writing mean characters. I on't know how to do it, so...I just hope it's in character enough. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

His head hurt. Why did his head hurt? Had he done something heroic and awesome and gotten hurt doing it? Had he had too much mead the night before? A slight movement told him it wasn't just his head that hurt but also all the muscles in his neck, ruling out the mead as the problem. Although extremely reluctant to abandon the sweet warmth and comfort of sleep, he forced himself awake, wondering what time it was. Vikings didn't sleep in.

Prying his eyes open, he found himself very disoriented. What happened to his roof? Wait. The roof was the outside, the ceiling was the inside. What happened to his ceiling? There were dried herbs hanging from it, herbs he unwillingly recognized, both for food and for medicinal purposes. He recognized hops, which was used to make beer. Gothi made the best beer in the village, with Gobber close behind. Wild onions, lavender, mint, dill, juniper. Medicinal herbs for burns, fevers, headaches, and bones of various creatures, dragons, whales, bears, and so on, that were carved with runes, the _old_ runes, the runes only healers or people who claimed to be in communication with the gods could use.

He grimaced as he rolled his eyes, distastefully reminded of the two winters he spent as his great-grandmother's apprentice when he was nine and ten; Gothi had insisted that he, of all people, had skill and decided, against Spitelout's wishes, that she was going to train her great-grandson in the art of healing.

While Snotlout always contended that they were the worst two winters of his life, they were actually quite fascinating. At least until he went home and tried to show his dad. Spitelout wasn't the worst of fathers, but he didn't exactly like the idea of his (at the time) only son mastering an art presided over by a female goddess.

Come to think of it, the ceiling looked incredibly like Gothi's ceiling.

Oh.

This was Gothi's place. That explained all the medicinal stuff. Sitting up, and wincing because it felt like his brain was bruised, a feeling he was all too accustomed to, he glanced at the small cup of roasted corn cockle seeds sitting on the table he was lying on. Raw, they were poisonous to chickens, pigs and people, but roasted they could be sprinkled over all manner of food along with the coarse salt they harvested from the sea. Snotlout happened to like the roasted seeds on salmon that had been slowly roasted to perfection with a honey glaze on top.

At the thought of food, he licked his lips...and immediately regretted it, as his tongue made contact with the raw gum of where one of his teeth had been on his bottom jaw. Emphasis on _had been_. A little stunned to find that he had lost another tooth (he had lost one of his permanent teeth when he was younger right after it grew in by knocking it out on purpose, thinking another one would grow in to replace it) he twisted his legs off the table and gingerly rubbed his face, finding bruises and scratches galore. Someone really did a job on his face, he mused, pouting. He hoped that if he ended up with any scars that they were good ones that wouldn't mess up his good looks. He needed those, now that Hiccup was quickly surpassing him in height and he was losing that little advantage to attract women.

How on earth did he end up like this? Last thing he remembered he was on a surveillance mission and Hiccup was being his boring old stick-to-the-boring-tradition self in that surveillance missions were supposed to be sneaky, hah. Okay, well maybe...Maybe Hiccup was right, and Snotlout was...less right, but he didn't have to be a jerk about it. Pfft.

And then what?

Snotlout carefully got off the table, mindful of his jostled brain, and glanced around slowly, finding Gothi sewing by her fire, surrounded by her faithful Terrible Terrors as they preened and napped. Seriously, the Terrible Terrors were almost as bad as the Deadly Nadders when it came to preening and having to have everything in its place just so. Like they thought they ruled the world or something.

He stood there awkwardly for a while, wondering if she had noticed him awake and if he could just like, sneak out or something without her noticing, or maybe pretend like he hadn't-

"Sit."

Snotlout nearly screamed at the sudden sound, but managed to curb it into a surprised gasp instead. He immediately obeyed, although his head certainly suffered from the change in altitude.

Gothi raised an eyebrow at him, as if scolding him for such a reaction to her. Snotlout sighed, and awkwardly scratched his elbow.

"What happened?" he asked, even though he knew it would take a miracle to get any more than the one word Gothi had already spoken to him out of her. Gothi rarely, if ever at all, spoke, and when she did it was normally to either the chief or to a family member for about the length of one or two words at the most. Her voice had been damaged somehow, many, many, many, _many_ years ago (because seriously, she looked like she had seen the dawn of Berk, she was so old) and her voice was gravelly and low, like a grinding stone against rough pebbles. She had spoken to Snotlout occasionally during their two winters together, but mostly to shout '_No!' _when he was about to break something important.

Gothi put aside her sewing and used her staff to shoo some of the Terrible Terrors away from the floor where she was about to write. Snotlout noticed she had left the little invention he had made during the first winter, a piece of charcoal pushed into a slot he had carved, so that she could write whether there was dirt around or not. A bit of pride swelled into him as she used it now to write.

He hated having to read Gothi's picture things. Reading anything in general made him dizzy, especially if it was the runes they normally used for writing. When he was younger he had thought that books were possessed or magic because the lines kept jumping and dancing across the pages when he tried to read them. He had settled on possessed when everyone else learned to read (even the dumb twins) and he still couldn't understand how on earth they got all that information from the dancing runes. No matter. Books were for losers anyway.

Still, he twisted and squinted at the drawings on the ground and frowned, "Are you saying...that a giant man bear...killed this pig-man thing aaaaaaand then a Monstrous Nightmare set it all on fire? I have no idea what the lady with the kids is doing or what that's gotta do with it. Is this some sort of legend?"

Gothi whacked his shoulder with her staff, and he pouted, rubbing it, though grateful she didn't hit his head – which was where she normally hit when she was frustrated with him.

"What?! How am I supposed to understand this?"

Gothi slowly and deliberately pointed to the pig-man and then to Snotlout various times until he finally understood.

"Oh, that's me! Wait...why am I so ugly? You did not capture my beautiful likeness at all," that earned him another whack and this time he whined. She hit hard...for an old lady. Turning back to the drawings, he squinted and stared until he deciphered it, though it took a bit of coaxing by Gothi.

"I...attacked Alvin. So Alvin attacked me. And Hookfang is blowing up this poor lady's hou-Wait, Hookfang and I? Why would I blow up some woman's house? I wouldn't do that. OW! I am reading it! Darn it, that hurts. Ow! I'm not saying bad words! Okay, okay, I give," Snotlout hunkered down when she raised her staff again, rolling his eyes. Gothi harrumphed at him and (after glancing around to make sure no one else was around) he pulled his best kicked puppy act, pouting and widening his eyes.

"You just like beating me up, don't you," he pouted. The old woman harrumphed again, shaking her head, though he caught the hint of a smile tugging on the corner of her lips, feeling strangely satisfied by it as he laughed.

His laughter was quickly cut off by a combination of his brain crying out to the movement and a heavy thud on the balcony outside, signaling a dragon had landed. Gothi picked up her sewing again with a knowing look on her face as Snotlout raised an eyebrow. What if someone was hurt? Why wasn't she going to go see who it was?

A lighter, but still heavy thud as the rider dismounted ruled out any of the teens except for Fishlegs, and the door swinging open revealed it to be Snotlout's dad. Snotlout smiled quickly, rising to his feet and hiding his wince at the sudden headache that exploded in his cranium.

"Hey, Dad! I was just, uh, about to come down..." the seventeen year old trailed off at the look of anger on his father's face, "And, shutting up now."

Wait. Spitelout didn't even have a dragon. How did he-

"Let's go, son," Spitelout glared at him, and Snotlout tried to hide the anger that suddenly rose wildly in his chest. Great. Apparently he blew up some lady's house and now his dad was about to lecture him about that. He couldn't even remember doing it, why should he have to be punished for whatever it was? It probably wasn't even his fault anyway.

Fighting the glare that was threatening to grow on his own face, he followed his father out, finding Hookfang sitting on the balcony, chuffing as he watched the on goings down below. Had Snotlout been in a better mood he would have prided himself on having such a glorious dragon, but once he caught sight of the badly strapped on saddle, he just glared at it.

"Dad," he started to complain. He hated having his dad ride his dragon, because Spitelout had only the bare minimum experience in flying a dragon, having refused to get his own, and Hookfang always took it out on Snotlout afterwards. And if the dragon even tried taking it out on Spitelout, Snotlout would be the one hearing about his badly trained dragon and how well trained Toothless, a Night Fury, was next to Hookfang, and the subtle/not so subtle hints that Snotlout needed to if not best Hiccup, then get up to his level and this train of thought was just making Snotlout angrier than he already was, so he stopped thinking for now.

The ride home was quiet, mostly because of the wind whistling by; Snotlout shivered in the spring air, made even chillier by evening approaching, and glanced back at his father. Not to make sure he was okay, of course, his dad was more than capable of...almost anything, but still. He found himself looking at a stony-faced man who was not shivering in the least from the cold, and wondered why on earth everyone was so angry at-

Oh.

Oh!

The last few memories that he couldn't remember thanks to his concussion came whip-lashing back to him. Alvin's sister was the lady in Gothi's drawings. Alvin was furious at him (pfft, like he cared). And he got pummeled into the ground by the larger, older man.

A hot flush of anger and embarrassment came over him, making his already red face even redder for a moment as his hands clenched tightly over Hookfang's horns, making the dragon hiss in displeasure.

"Sorry," he muttered, loud enough that Hookfang could hear but low enough his father couldn't. The dragon simply gurgled in annoyance as they landed, waiting until Spitelout was off to twist and dislodge the unsuspecting Snotlout from his neck. His rider landed with a pained yelp, laying in a heap for a moment before climbing to his feet and shoving the dragon's head in retaliation.

"That hurt you stupid dragon!"

Hookfang just yawned and arched his neck, shoving his saddle into his rider's face.

"Fine, I'm getting it off, you idiot," Snotlout grumbled, unstrapping the saddle and lifting it onto the peg in Hookfang's stall.

"Hurry up, Snotlout," his father called. Snotlout clenched his fists and rolled his eyes.

"I'm already _done_," he snapped, turning sharply as Hookfang settled in for the night, and following his father inside. The moment the door opened, he was hit with the sharp smell of food burning, and almost jumped right back out. Aw, great, that meant-

"Bilda, the food!" his father yelled. A yelp came from the second story and a short woman came rushing down, cloth and needles flying everywhere. Gustav bounded down behind her, waving to Snotlout as way of greeting before discreetly (not so discreetly) making his way over to the cupboard and pulling out a heavy pot he could barely handle as Bilda pulled the pot of burnt boar soup off the fire and onto the table, staring at it like she couldn't understand why it had betrayed her so greatly by going and burning. Snotlout rolled his eyes at his stepmother and helped Gustav push the spare pot onto the fire, glad that he and Gustav always made supper ahead of time themselves, mostly because Bilda never failed to burn her food.

"Oh, look what clever boys I have," she gushed, as Gustav quietly and awkwardly hovered around the pot.

"I'm not your boy," Snotlout sighed, tired of snapping at his step-mother, and took the pot out to Hookfang, scrapping out the stuff over his dragon's fish. Hookfang warbled and glared at him, and Snotlout blew a raspberry at him. Stupid dragon. He glanced at the charred boar stew and frowned. Boar stew was his favorite, unfortunately. Hookfang hissed.

"Oh, shut up, you're the lucky one. Boar stew, no lectures in line, no dumb stepmothers or...you know...stuff. You're lucky," Snotlout reiterated. Turning on his heel, he went back inside and dropped the pot next to the other things that needed cleaning and dug out his bowl from that stack, wiping off this morning's porridge as Gustav ladled out spoonfuls of the soup they had made. Bilda and Spitelout stood off in a corner, talking in hushed tones.

"You're in trouble," Gustav stated as Snotlout glared at him. The two never considered each other step-brothers, each too proud to admit that their parents seemed to be together for good, much to Gustav's grief and Snotlout's anger. Just because his mother hadn't returned from her two-year trading journey for ten years did not mean she was dead!

"It's not my fault," Snotlout insisted. Gustav shrugged.

"Spitelout's still mad that you're going to be spending the whole summer-"

"Gustav!" Spitelout called. The thirteen year old cringed as Snotlout frowned in confusion.

"Go to your room."

"But-"

"Now, please."

Snotlout nearly threw his bowl of soup across the room, because his dad almost never asked things of him that calmly when he was that angry. He wondered if it was because he didn't have a real mother to work as a shield like Gustav did.

The younger boy pouted, but collected his spoon and bowl and took off, with Bilda close behind as Spitelout crossed his arms and faced Snotlout. Snotlout rolled his eyes. Cowards.

"What were you thinking?"

Pretty straightforward.

"I was thinking, Outcasts, danger," Snotlout responded, crossing his arms and mimicking his father's stance.

"Well, congratulations, son. You just got yourself a job, all summer, building a longhouse."

Snotlout frowned. Was that his punishment? Pfft, that was like the nicest punishment job he had ever gotten. Why was his dad upset about that? He'd be practically available the whole time, slacking off on the real construction workers.

"So?"

"Building a longhouse for Alvin the Treacherous."

Boom. Snotlout's brain went absolutely blank for a few moments before he exploded.

"_WHAT?_"

Spitelout's expression left out the possibility that he was joking.

"That idiot just about killed me this morning!"

"Oh, really? I thought it was just a few scratches," Spitelout rolled his eyes as Snotlout gaped for a few moments, not understanding. Oh, wait. He was being sarcastic. Great.

"Dad, you can't be serious."

"It's not my choice!" Spitelout snapped, uncrossing his arms, "Apparently you almost killed two men surrendering themselves. Do you know how dishonorable it is to attack a man when he's surrendering?"

Oh, that's what his dad was worried about. Snotlout's imagination was running wild, imagining all sorts of scenarios where he ended up dead with his head on a spike, or buried under Alvin's precious new longhouse or...or...worse. He never trusted Alvin, never ever ever, and being beaten into the ground by him just made it that much worse.

He wanted to throw something, or break something, and his head was exploding and his heart was pounding in every inch of his body and it was too hot in here and-and...and...

He vaguely noticed that the floor seemed a little too close to his face as his vision faded to black, before he ceased thinking completely.


	3. Chapter 3

**Well I'm really sorry it's taken me this long to update; I've had major and I mean major writer's block on everything I've been working on. Not been fun. Nope. Anyway, On with the story!**

"Wait a minute, what are you saying, Gothi?"

The elder woman gave Hiccup an expression that implied that she was not amused as Gobber crossed his arms.

"She says Snotlout can't fly Hookfang or any dragon 'til his head's better."

Oh, well, that was spectacular. Mentally, Hiccup began to rearrange all his summer plans, dejectedly cutting back on the exploring and adding new islands to the map as even more of his free time would be taken away. He never really realized how much the academy actually relied on Snotlout. Not as much as the tough boy liked to boast, but certainly more than Hiccup had accounted for, because apparently he underestimated Snotlout's contributions just as much as Snotlout overestimated them.

"Oh great. Thank you, Snotlout, for making everything just a little bit harder," he turned to glare at Snotlout, who was lying on his back on Gothi's table, arms crossed as he glared at the ceiling.

"Shut up, Hiccup! Did I gripe and moan when you lost your leg and were out for three weeks straight, scaring the heck out of everyone by making us think you were going to die? No, I went and I got on that dragon and kept going, and I didn't whine about it!"

"You're whining now."

"I...b...ju...Shut up, Hiccup!"

Gothi whacked Snotlout's shoulder, eliciting a whine from the boy as Hiccup sighed, "Why can't he fly?"

A few lines and drawings later (Gothi used more actual writing with most people than drawings like she did for Snotlout) Gobber explained for her.

"His concussion was worse than she thought. Changing altitudes puts pressure on what little brain he has-"

"I can _hear_ you," Snotlout snapped from the table, kicking his leg and trying to get up only to be whacked by Gothi and pushed back down. He let out a frustrated groan and Gobber gave a brief dry smile.

"In any case, he can't be doing any flying unless you want him to pass out a-hundred and thirty feet above the ground."

Hiccup sighed, glancing at the sulking boy on Gothi's table. Snotlout was being uncharacteristically quiet and passive, which implied that he was actually feeling rather bad. While normally, whenever the loudmouth felt the slightest bit off, he made a big show of it, but it was when Snotlout was stiff and quiet and trying to pass off his discomfort as nothing for the sake of his manly pride that it was time to start worrying. He and Astrid had learned that the hard way on one of their misadventures where they had no idea he had dislocated his shoulder and his wrist until they needed him to lift one of the large boulders pinning down Toothless' wing. Needless to say, they weren't happy to find out that he had kept that from them, especially since he endangered all four of them in the process.

"Well...why did he faint inside his home instead of up in the sky them?" Hiccup pushed, if for no other reason than he was very irked at losing the freedom he had come to relish.

"I didn't faint!" came the indignant shriek from his cousin, but Hiccup decided to ignore him as Snotlout had oft ignored him as kids. Gothi's staff clattered into movement again, only this time to whack Hiccup's shoulder. The skinny young boy gave a yelp and skittered away with wide green eyes as Gobber snickered and Gothi nudged Snotlout off her table. The boy snorted and whined a bit, but he moved stiffly and slowly, keeping his head as level as possible for as long as possible, glaring heatedly at Hiccup as if he were the source of all his problems when in reality, the opposite was true.

Hiccup just made his way out of Gothi's hut, jumping astride Toothless in a single, practiced move, almost feeling sympathy when Snotlout's expression dropped pitifully at the realization that he was going to have to climb down to the ground without the aid of his dragon.

Of course, his hot-headed cousin had to ruin it by scowling hideously and kicking the floor.

"Stupid Alvin!" he howled, and then winced, freezing in place as his head pounded.

"It's your own fault, Snotlout," Hiccup responded patiently, "If you hadn't just rushed in without a-"

"Shut up, Hiccup, the last thing I want is another lame lecture. I've got like a dozen of them waiting at home so shove it up your-"

"Whoa!" Hiccup interrupted, eyes wide, "Hey, I was only pointing out a fatal flaw in your attack. Keyword being _fatal._"

Snotlout's icy blue eyes glared up at him and Hiccup distantly noticed that the scratches on his cousin's face were red and inflamed. If they weren't treated soon, they might scar nastily. Distantly, he also noted he was probably missing whatever dim point that Snotlout was trying to make. With a sigh, he shook his head.

Snotlout snorted and began his way down the ladder, muttering unhappy things to himself, unaware of the commotion starting up on the ground. The boy glanced upwards as Hiccup took off, feeling woefully bitter at his cousin, for lack of anyone else to blame.

"So, their mighty warrior is taken off guard and beaten up, and they blame him?" he muttered unhappily, making his way down, rung by rung, glancing down and frowning at the crowd of people collecting at the decks built for them to walk up to the edge of the cliffs without fear of falling, peering out at the ocean. Changing his gaze from the ground to the ocean, he squinted for a while, not seeing much other than a bit of blurry ocean for a moment before he finally saw what had the people so worked up. A boat was coming in, with torches lit to announce itself in the night and Berk's flag proudly in the air, but as far as he knew, no long distance Berkian ships had been deployed recently. Then again, no one told him anything, so whatever.

Still, in true Viking fashion, he hurried his way down the rungs to join the crowd watching the ship come in, finding Tuffnut and Ruffnut cackling somewhere in the middle. Why they were cackling was beyond him, but then again so was most of the stuff they did. While Tuffnut was great when he needed a bash-bro or pranking partner and Ruffnut was just fine for a girl even though she didn't act like one – in fact, he pretty much preferred it when girls didn't act like girls; normal girls were fun and all to flirt with and sneak kisses from, but they weren't people he really liked to hang around – he really didn't like to spend anymore time with them than he absolutely needed or wanted to.

"What's going on?" he asked, squinting out to the dark ocean at the boat casting fiery orange blazes across the black water. Tuffnut snorted, shrugging.

"Beats me," he answered, and that was all Snotlout was going to get out of him on the subject it seemed. Rolling his eyes and half snarling at his friend, he turned to Ruffnut as she helpfully whacked her brother over the head.

"They're saying that it's probably one of our traders coming back from something," she answered gruffly, earning herself a grunt from Snotlout in gratitude, who merely turned and rubbed at his forehead as he watched the chief and Hiccup come back from wherever Hiccup had fetched him from, peering out over the ocean just like everyone else. After a moment, Hiccup nodded at something Stoic said and quickly made his way over to the twins and Snotlout, Toothless not far behind.

"Saddle up, we're going out to make sure that it's not a rouge Beserker boat disguised as a trading ship," he said, earning himself some excited whoops from the twins as Snotlout tried to figure out how long it would take for him to run up to his home, saddle Hookfang, and whether he could get away with it without someone stopping him first, "But remember, we're only checking them out, not attacking. And Snotlout."

Freezing in his already still position staring at the ground unassumingly, he looked up at his cousin with wide eyes, trying to look as innocent as possible, "What? I'm not doing anything..."

"Exactly," the skinny boy stood with his legs wide and arms crossed, looking for a moment like the toothpick version of his imposing father, "And you're going to keep it that way. You heard Gothi."

Snotlout growled and glared at his cousin, but begrudgingly crossed his arms and turned away instead of engaging in a battle of wills. His aching head couldn't really take it right now, much to his chagrin.

"Geez, Hiccup. They'd think you're my dad or something," he muttered. Hiccup seemed to take that as his agreement, and motioned the twins to follow him as they mounted their dragons. He lifted his gaze at the sound of a dragon flying over the crowd from somewhere behind them, and regretted it immediately, gasping quietly as every muscle and joint in his neck lit up in aching pain. He just managed to catch a glimpse of Stormfly as she flew overhead, joining Hiccup and the twins as they took off to the skies, before he had to lower his gaze, holding both sides of his neck as he grit his teeth and held back a whimper of pain.

Wow. It hadn't hurt so much a few minutes ago. Stupid Outcast. Snotlout kicked the ground again, still holding his neck. It felt like a deep bruise, he supposed. Being the amazing warrior he was, he was bound to get bruises from time to time, so he did have a salve for bruises and aching muscles back home.

Thankfully for his curiosity, his home was beside the path that everyone took up from the docks; once the ship came in, whoever or whatever would parade by in order to get to town and he would have the chance to interact with them first hand before the crowd that had alerted him to the ship in the first place.

Once there, he made his way to his room in the loft of the long house, making sour faces at Bilda's back as she sewed. He had never really liked her; she was short, loud and smothering while Spitelout courted her, and when they had married, she tried her best to convince him to call her mom while pushing Gustav onto him as a brother.

"Ah," he sighed heavily as he found the salve and rubbed it in slowly, wincing the whole time.

Like Hel he was calling her _mom_. He had one mother and she certainly wasn't some little housewife who couldn't cook to save her life.

Speaking of which, he opened the window and stuck his head out, "Hey, Shortie!"

Gustav's head popped into his view upside down, "Puh-lease, we both know who the short one in this relationship is."

"Shut up. Where'd you put the bread?"

The younger boy sighed, and motioned for Snotlout to move so that he could come in. The older boy scowled and considered staying put to shove the boy off the window sill when he tried to come in...But he wanted the bread more than he wanted his step-brother's suffering. Gustav landed on the loft's floor with a loud thump, the thick logs vibrating with the impact. The thirteen year old lazily fixed his shirt as Snotlout's sour expression turned into a full out death-glare.

"Gustav, stop it! Just tell me where it is already."

"Uh, well," Gustav smirked, crossing his arms, "What's in it for me?"

The older boy frowned, narrowing his eyes at the lean kid, "You hid it, didn't you? Ok, what's in it for you is that I don't beat you up for the next week."

Gustav snorted, "You already can't do that."

Anger flared brightly in Snotlout's chest, "Yes I can, what the Hel are you-"

A single finger poked his forehead, pushing his head back hard enough that his headache flared again and his neck pulsed with pain. With a gasp, he jerked away, grabbing Gustav's hand with enough force that the younger boy's knuckles cracked.

Gustav chuckled, "Now imagine if I punched you."

"You're a troll," Snotlout snarled, "A cross-eyed, Loki bred troll!"

"Yeah, so? C'mon, we can trade for the bread, fair and square."

Snotlout weighed his chances of being able to give the kid a good beating despite being impeded, and then weighed just how much he really wanted this bread.

"What do you want?"

Gustav blinked at him in surprise, before a grin so wide it looked like it would crack his skull in half spread across his face, "Wha-really? I mean, ahem, I want...How about I get to actually sleep in the bed?"

Snotlout frowned, glancing at their room. It was a little Spartan, with weapons decorating one side of the room on a rack and a single large bed that had been Snotlout's parents' bed. Technically speaking he should have been sharing with Gustav, but it would be a hot day in Niflheim before he shared his bed with another guy. Gustav slept on a make-shift mattress that Spitelout had forced him to make for the younger boy, which was basically a thick linen cloth stitched to hold in thick wool he had paid a small fortune for.

"No way Jose," he snorted, "I am _not _sharing a bed with you."

"I didn't say anything about sharing," Gustav said innocently.

Snotlout narrowed his eyes, "Half a night."

"No way. One week at least."

"Heck no," Snotlout scowled, "Half a night and no more."

Gustav yanked his hand out of Snotlout's grip, "I guess I get the bread all to myself then."

"_One _night," he snapped, gesturing sharply with his arm, "No more than that."

"Four nights."

"No."

"Fine, three?"

"No."

"No bread then."

Snotlout growled and threw his head back to look at the ceiling, only to wince and bite down his pained cry as he re-realized what a bad idea that was.

"Two."

"No, I still want three."

"Two nights and I'll wash the dishes for the next two nights _after _that," Snotlout clapped his hands and pointed at Gustav, "Final offer."

Gustav bit his lip, turning away for a moment, "Three nights of dishes?"

"Don't push it."

The boy pouted for half a second before he "There's- Never mind. Deal?"

Snotlout didn't really care what was making the kid pause, but curiosity won out, "There's what?"

Gustav coughed and shook his head, "Nothing, forget it. Do we have a deal or not?"

Snotlout pursed his lips for a moment, holding out his right hand, "I'll throw in an extra night of dishes if you tell me."

Gustav crossed and uncrossed his arms, eyes flitting around the room before clapping his smaller hand in Snotlout's and shaking, "Deal."

"Okay, bread first!"

"Psht," Gustav scoffed and threw himself on Snotlout's bed with a grin, "Check in Mom's sewing chest."

"Seriously? You hid it there?" The older boy scowled, patting his bed mournfully. Gustav kicked his hands away, clicking his tongue in warning.

"Well, yeah, you don't go within four feet of Mom or anything related to Mom unless..." the boy shuddered, forcing the word out through gritted teeth and sending a resentful look down the ladder at his mother, "_Father _is here."

Snotlout shuddered himself, "Ew. What is that? Why did you say that? Don't ever call my dad that again."

"Hey, I don't like it anymore than you do. At least your dad is cool," Gustav said, kicking his shoes off and standing on Snotlout's bed with a look of glee on his face.

"Could you at least get the bread, you little rat?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

Snotlout scowled and crossed his arms, "Okay, fine. Now what didn't you want to tell me?"

Gustav's face turned bright red and Snotlout smirked. Oh, this one was going to be good, he could just feel it. He would probably be able to tease the younger boy for weeks with whatever it was that was making him blush so much. Snotlout only just resisted the urge to cackle evilly at his step-brother.

"C'mon," he egged on, "We made a deal. Don't go backing out on me now."

Gustav lost all his confidence and swagger like a deflating balloon, which really only encourage Snotlout all the more.

"Well," the boy squeezed out, turning away, "there's this-"

The heavy thump of a dragon landing on the roof made them both jerk in surprise. The boys shared a look for a split second before Snotlout opened the window, yelping when a pair of feet came flying in. Astrid landed in his room and Gustav let out a muffled squeak – just loud enough that Snotlout turned to give him a look of alarm, because what man made that kind of sound? – as she turned to Snotlout with an indecipherable expression on her face.

"Is your dad home?" she asked, unusually quietly and softly. Snotlout was left reeling; Astrid never, _ever _spoke to him softly. It had happened maybe once or twice – the fifth year his mother was late coming home from her two year trading journey, when everyone gave her up as either dead or a runaway, and when it seemed certain that Hookfang was about to die – and it never bode well. It always came with hard things, painful things. Things that he didn't want to face.

So Snotlout did something easy, something normal. He leaned casually against his – oh, excuse him, _Gustav's _bed, and smiled in his most seductive way. Perhaps he should practice it more. Huh.

"No, he's not. Why, you thinking of doing something naughty?" he added in an appreciative glance of her body, up and down. Astrid sucked in a breath through her teeth and sighed through her nose.

"Shut up, idiot, there's a baby nearby," she motioned toward Gustav, who just smiled weirdly at her as he scooted out of sight behind the headboard of the bed. Her expression softened again. "And I'm serious, Snotlout."

"When are you ever not serious?" he grumbled, rubbing at the scratches on his face, "Snoggletog is the only time you're any fun anymore."

"You might want to sit," she said, and waited. Snotlout crossed his arms and glanced at the stairs instead. The girl sighed and placed her hands on her hips, her gaze downcast as she shook her head.

"Fine, Snotlout. The ship," she looked up, staring him squarely in the eye, never one to really beat around the bush, "It's your mom's ship."

**AN: I had a weird experience; I had the first part of this chapter written since forever, and I actually was rather gleeful to be taking from Snotlout the things that make him Snotlout or the actions and hobbies that make him him - he can't be a tough guy right now and he can't be a dragon rider. Those two things are basically what he's poured all of his effort and time into, right? Well, as of late December and most of January I can officially say that it stinks bigtime to have all that ripped away from you. I draw and I lost my ability to draw thanks to an extremely painful muscle in my shoulder at the same time I lost my computer. I couldn't draw, I couldn't write on the computer nor on paper as that was the same movements as writing and I flew into the pits of despair and depression. I couldn't be me, I felt, and after I got a new computer and healed up and came back to this story, I was shocked and suddenly wanted to start crying because I had been planning to put Snotlout through all the same long before I went through it. I know he's a jerk. I know he's fictional and stuff. But I felt betrayed by myself to have wanted to do that to someone and done it with such glee.**

**Lol. Guess my guilt suddenly kicked in or something. **


End file.
